The present moment of global upheaval could have been Europe’s hour of relevance. It had the means, the history, and the moral stature to lead. Instead, it deferred, equivocated, and shrank.

The decision not to act decisively was neither accidental nor due to lack of information. It was a conscious choice, shaped by fear, complicity, and strategic calculation.

In a stunning display of political acquiescence, NATO has chosen to adopt Trump’s worldview wholesale. Rather than questioning his narrow, militarized vision of security, the alliance is now enshrining it as official policy.

Arms races and ramped up militarization do not unleash the stability and security promised by their proponents. Quite the contrary, with more weapons, war, conflict and insecurity tends to deepen and spread.

Benjamin Netanyahu cloaks his militarism in the language of civilization. Yet his methods – indiscriminate bombings, political assassinations, the weaponization of suffering – are not the defense of civilized norms, they are a desecration of them.

It is a tragic stain on the honour of the industrial countries that they fail to champion the U.N. Charter’s insistence that the “least” amount of money be spent on armaments.

NATO’s target of 5% of GDP for
defence is not a sober response to today’s threats. It is a reactive move that risks locking nations into a dangerous, self-reinforcing cycle of militarization.

In the age of artificial intelligence, the golem is not built from clay but from algorithm and digital data – or, more specifically, from our digital data.